


Root, Branch, Flower

by cosmic_llin



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Mutual Support, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-26 16:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18720694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: Drabbles written for the Hackle Drabble Tree of May 2019.





	1. Magenta

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Each Moment with You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725785) by [cassiopeiasara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiopeiasara/pseuds/cassiopeiasara). 
  * Inspired by [Branches of Affection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18762514) by [Emiline](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emiline/pseuds/Emiline). 
  * Inspired by [come the day](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18759664) by [walkthegale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkthegale/pseuds/walkthegale). 
  * Inspired by [Kaleidoscope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18783631) by [agapi42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/agapi42/pseuds/agapi42). 
  * Inspired by [A Lifetime of Moments](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18922798) by [CulturePopper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CulturePopper/pseuds/CulturePopper). 



Ada doubted many people had ever seen Hecate wear pink.

Ada herself didn’t see it often.

Some evenings, though, when the wind rattled through the castle and the flagstones were chilly, Ada would find Hecate curled up in one of her cardigans.

She had a favourite - bright, on the magenta side of pink, in a slouchy, chunky knit. It was too big for Hecate, slipping sideways off her shoulders, but the colour suited her.

The first time Ada had found her like that, she’d blushed, apologised, taken it off. These days she just ignored Ada’s gentle teasing and snuggled deeper.


	2. Damn Cat

Morgana leaps from her arms the moment they’re safely inside. Hecate shakes off a pang of betrayal, tries to spell herself warm and dry, can’t manage it. Blast. She’s used it all up rescuing that damn cat.

She squelches upstairs.

‘I’m sorry to bother you…’ she says, as Ada’s door opens, ‘I just need a quick drying spell…’

'You’re a bit beyond that,’ Ada says, wry but gentle. 'Come in. I’ve got a fire going.’

The fire is warm. Ada puts a blanket around her shoulders and hands her a cup of tea. Hecate feels herself starting to thaw out.


	3. Fire

Fire. Growing fast.

Close by a bottle shatters, and Hecate jumps. Few things are more dangerous than fire in a potions lab. She looks wildly around for water - magic will only make this worse. But the pail is beyond the fire.

'Miss Hardbroom!’ Miss Cackle calls, from the doorway. 'Get out of there!’

'But… the lab…’

'We can build another lab,’ says Miss Cackle, guiding her to safety as the other teachers begin a bucket chain. 'We can’t build another Hecate Hardbroom. We have to keep this one safe.’

She clasps Hecate’s hands tightly in hers, just for a moment.


	4. Rose Quartz

Hecate had read that the colour of rose quartz was due to trace amounts of titanium, iron or manganese.

This particular piece was unpolished, a rough, walnut-sized chunk. No matter how she fought it, Hecate’s eyes kept being drawn to it.

It was nothing to do with its location - hanging from a silver chain around Ada Cackle’s neck.

No, Hecate was just… academically interested. In the properties of quartz.

She had no opinion whatsoever on the low cut of the dress Ada was wearing for the staff picnic.

Ada shifted, and the quartz caught the light. Hecate closed her eyes.


	5. Halloween

She’d loved Halloween as a child. The fires, the solemnity, the sense of belonging. It warmed something in her soul.

The last few years she’d avoided the Academy’s festivities. She wasn’t truly part of the community - not student, not teacher, not quite anything else - and she didn’t deserve that warmth, not after everything.

This year, though, Miss Cackle - newly returned to her childhood home to teach - knocked at her door.

‘Aren’t you coming to the celebration?’ she asked. 'We missed you.’

Unlikely. But nobody had ever come to find her before.

She didn’t deserve it. She followed Miss Cackle anyway.


	6. Annotations

Hecate acted like it was nothing to lend Ada the book, but Ada sensed a tension in her posture that made her vow privately to keep it safe.

It was worn, falling open at well-read pages, margins full of tiny, neat handwriting. Ada had only wanted to look up a few things but she found herself drawn again and again into reading Hecate’s incisive annotations.

She hoped and believed they were becoming friends, but Hecate revealed so little. Ada was learning to read her, but this unconstrained access to Hecate’s thoughts felt like a new intimacy.

She devoured every page.


	7. Gifts

Hecate is tricky to buy gifts for.

Early in their relationship Ada tried flowers, but although Hecate appreciated them Ada sensed she would have appreciated them even more still in the ground.

Once she bought Hecate ingredients, and Hecate used them and never said a single word about how she would have preferred to choose them herself, but Ada could tell.

But Ada is observant. When she sees Hecate lingering over a certain page in the cauldron catalogue, she files that information away for her next birthday, and when the time comes she’s rewarded with a smile that dazzles her.


	8. Balance

‘I could have been a different sort of teacher,’ Hecate says wistfully.

'What do you mean?’ Ada asks.

'More like you. Kinder, more… fun. If I hadn’t been so afraid of breaking rules. I see that now.’

'We’ve already got one me. Someone has to maintain discipline around here. We balance each other.’

'Still.’

'You’re not stone,’ Ada says.

Hecate winces. A poor choice of words.

'I mean…’ Ada continues, 'you can always change. If you wanted to. But… not too much? Please? I love you just how you are.’

Hecate smiles, and Ada thinks perhaps she’ll be all right.


	9. Ada's Eyes

Hecate loves Ada’s eyes.

It’s not just that they’re stunningly blue, enough to stop her in her tracks even after all these years of being allowed to gaze into them.

It’s not just their warmth, their kindness. Their determination, when determination is required.

Days at Cackle’s are so busy - the two of them spend so much time caring for others. Some days they barely have time to speak. But they don’t need words.

A glance across the crowded hall, a smile when they pass in the corridor, a look of understanding when things go wrong.

Sometimes it’s all she needs.


	10. Sweet Drawer

Hecate always looked guilty when Ada caught her tidying the office.

This time she jumped out of her skin.

'Ada! I was just…’

'Emptying my sweet drawer?’

Hecate looked momentarily sheepish, then her expression hardened.

'I know it’s your office, Ada, and I don’t want to overstep my bounds, especially in your most sacred drawer,’ she said, 'but really. Look.’

Ada looked. Some of the sweets - they might have been there a while - had melted to the bottom of the drawer in a solid lump.

'Don’t pretend you’re ever going to eat this,’ Hecate said.

'Probably not,’ Ada admitted ruefully.

'Quite,’ said Hecate, performing a cleaning spell with just a hint of smugness.


	11. Potions Cupboard

During termtime they were discreet, at least in front of the students.

During the holidays they were sometimes the only people around, and they allowed themselves more freedom. Ada was thoroughly enjoying this delicious few weeks of caresses on staircases, kisses in classrooms. The whole castle was theirs.

She leaned seductively against the doorframe of Hecate’s store cupboard. 'Mind if I join you?’

Hecate looked sternly at her. 'In the potions cupboard? With all these volatile ingredients? Absolutely not.’

She took Ada’s hand, pulled her out into the corridor and pinned her against the wall. 'Much better here,’ she said.


	12. Hard Day

‘Hard day?’ Ada asks.

Hecate just shakes her head. The girls were too noisy, the sunlight was too bright, too many things happened at once. She can’t find the way to speech.

Ada waves a hand and blows out half the candles, and Hecate sighs with relief.

'I’ll read aloud, shall I?’ Ada suggests, watching Hecate carefully.

Hecate nods.

Ada chooses a book from the shelf - doesn’t matter which one, Hecate won’t follow the plot anyway.

She sits beside Hecate, and Hecate leans against her and lets the sound of Ada’s voice smooth out the jagged edges of the world.


	13. Mornings

Ada likes mornings.

Hecate’s not terribly good at them. She wakes up reluctantly while Ada is already up and about, watching the dawn as she prepares for the day.

In the morning, Hecate’s face is bare. Her hair, plaited for sleep, is coming loose. Her nightdress is softer than the formal clothes she works in. She sleeps curled in a ball, like a cat, and when Ada touches her hair to wake her she frowns and then smiles, and then slowly blinks to alertness.

Nobody else ever gets to see Hecate this way, and Ada loves every moment of it.


	14. Strength

'You can’t do anything to stop me,’ said Agatha. 'I’m just as much headmistress as you.’

That look was in her eyes. The look that said,  _I know how much this means to you, and it means nothing to me, and that just makes this more fun_.

Ada had seen that look too many times. After these few months of running the school together, she was utterly worn down by it.

Across the room, Hecate’s eyes found her. Her steady gaze held Ada’s for a long moment, and Ada felt strength pouring back into her.

'Not anymore, Agatha,’ she said.


	15. Humour

None of the other teachers thought Miss Hardbroom had a sense of humour.

Some of them Ada remembered from her time as a pupil, others were more recent additions. They almost all exchanged significant looks behind Miss Hardbroom's back, said her name with impatience. When Ada asked, they all told her that it wasn't worth bothering. Miss Hardbroom wasn't here to make friends.

Couldn't they tell that when she quirked her lips in that particular way it meant she was amused, and when she over-emphasised her Rs just so, it meant she was joking?

Weren't they paying attention at all?


	16. Belief

She's spent her life clinging to the Witches' Code.

How could she not? If she admits to herself that the Code might be flawed, the whole house of cards collapses, and she has to accept that perhaps things could have been different for her. And that hurts.

'I'm not sure what to believe in anymore,' she confesses to Ada, after everything.

'You could believe in truth,' suggests Ada. 'Or you could believe in kindness. Or you could believe in yourself.'

Hecate shakes her head. That's a little too daunting.

'You could believe in my belief in you,' says Ada softly.


	17. Tuesdays

Tuesday is the night they always save for each other. No meetings, no marking, no corridor duty.

Except that one of the towers has flooded and they have to evacuate the girls from their sodden bedrooms.

Next Tuesday, they promise, but the next Tuesday is a parents' evening and they can't get away until it's late and they're exhausted.

Next Tuesday. A second-year's familiar is missing. No question of skipping the search.

The Tuesday after that, they share dinner, and nothing happens. They go upstairs, and nothing happens. They blow out the candles, and at last the night is theirs.


	18. Magenta Again

It's cold.

It's the first really sharp frost of autumn, and Hecate's alone. Ada's away for the weekend at a reunion of her college cohort. Hecate could have gone if she'd wanted, but she planned instead to catch up on her marking and organise her supply cupboard.

She's arranged the homework to be marked on her desk, but the chill in the air is distracting and she isn't getting very far. Morgana rubs past her ankles, reminding her what warmth feels like.

She goes to the wardrobe, gets out Ada's magenta cardigan, wraps it around herself, and sets to work.


End file.
